Throughout the regular season and playoffs, teams wore a patch celebrating the turn of the millennium (see above). Starting in the 1999–2000 season, teams would earn one point for an overtime loss in the regular season instead of zero. It was hoped that this change would stop teams from playing very defensively during the overtime in an effort to guarantee the single point from a tie. The number of ties had been going up for some years and the NHL was hoping to counter this trend, and in fact did so quite successfully with this rule change.[1]

This season was also the start of the NHL's partnership with ABC, who would televise a few regional games every season, as well as games three through seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. ESPN, who with the ABC deal renewed their contract with the NHL, continued to show regular season and playoff games as well as the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Two upsets occurred in the first round as seventh-place Pittsburgh defeated the second-place Washington Capitals in five games and eighth-place San Jose defeated the first-place St. Louis Blues in seven games. Both Pittsburgh and San Jose lost in the second round to end their seasons. In the East, fourth-place New Jersey Devils defeated fifth-place Florida Panthers, third-place Toronto Maple Leafs and first-place Philadelphia Flyers to advance to the final. In the West, the second-place Dallas Stars defeated the seventh-place Edmonton Oilers, eighth-place San Jose Sharks and the third-place Colorado Avalanche to advance to the final.

1.
National Hockey League
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Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game

2.
Ice hockey
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Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponents net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six each, one goaltender. A fast-paced, physical sport, ice hockey is most popular in areas of North America, Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. In North America, the National Hockey League is the highest level for mens hockey, the Kontinental Hockey League is the highest league in Russia and much of Eastern Europe. The International Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body for international ice hockey. The IIHF manages international tournaments and maintains the IIHF World Ranking, worldwide, there are ice hockey federations in 74 countries. Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th century United Kingdom and these games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules were developed, such as shinny and ice polo. The contemporary sport of ice hockey was developed in Canada, most notably in Montreal, some characteristics of that game, such as the length of the ice rink and the use of a puck, have been retained to this day. Amateur ice hockey began in the 1880s, and professional ice hockey originated around 1900. The Stanley Cup, emblematic of ice hockey club supremacy, was first awarded in 1893 to recognize the Canadian amateur champion, in international competitions, the national teams of six countries predominate, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Of the 69 medals awarded all-time in mens competition at the Olympics, in the annual Ice Hockey World Championships,177 of 201 medals have been awarded to the six nations. In Russia and the Ukraine, where hockey can also refer to bandy, the name hockey has no clear origin. The English historian and biographer John Strype did not use the word hockey when he translated the proclamation in 1720, the 1573 Statute of Galway banned a sport called hokie—the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves. A form of this word was thus being used in the 16th century, though much removed from its current usage. According to the Austin Hockey Association, the word derives from the Scots Gaelic puc or the Irish poc. The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his caman or hurley is always called a puck. Stick-and-ball games date back to pre-Christian times, in Europe, these games included the Irish game of hurling, the closely related Scottish game of shinty and versions of field hockey. IJscolf, a game resembling colf on a surface, was popular in the Low Countries between the Middle Ages and the Dutch Golden Age. It was played with a curved bat, a wooden or leather ball

3.
Presidents' Trophy
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The Presidents Trophy is an award presented by the National Hockey League to the team that finishes with the most points during the NHL regular season. If two teams tie for the most points, then the Trophy goes to the team with the most wins, the Presidents Trophy has been awarded 28 times to 15 different teams since its inception during the 1985–86 season. As the team with the best regular season record, the Presidents Trophy winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, however, it does not guarantee that success, only eight of these winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup. Three other teams reached the Stanley Cup Finals, but failed to win, the last team to win both the Presidents Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season was the 2012–13 Chicago Blackhawks. The only team to accomplish more than once is the Detroit Red Wings. The Trophy was introduced at the start of the 1985–86 NHL season by the Leagues Board of Governors, prior to this, the best team in the League during the regular season was allowed to hang a banner reading NHL League Champions. A total of 15 teams have won the Presidents Trophy, the Detroit Red Wings have won six Presidents Trophies, the most of any team. The New York Rangers and Washington Capitals are second with three, seven teams are tied for third most with two Presidents Trophy wins apiece. Among these multiple winners, Calgary, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Vancouver, before the 2010–11 NHL season, the first tiebreaker was the most wins including shootout wins. An example of the protocol is from the 2006–07 season. However, Buffalo had 53 wins while Detroit had 50, thus the Trophy was awarded to the Sabres, from 1937 to 1967, the same criterion now observed for winning the Presidents Trophy was used to award the Prince of Wales Trophy. A cash bonus of $350,000 was awarded to the team with the NHLs best regular-season record during these years. The cash bonus is split amongst the players on the roster of the winning team. Factoring all NHL seasons prior to the introduction of the Presidents Trophy, the Montreal Canadiens have finished first overall 21 times, Detroit is second with 18 first-overall finishes. The Presidents Trophy winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, in addition, six Presidents Trophy winners have been eliminated in the preliminary round of the playoffs, with first-round upsets being common in the NHL compared to other major professional sports. The Presidents Trophy winner may have to go through other playoff clubs who might have a hotter goaltender, if the regular-season champions primary success was merely outscoring others, they may be out of luck facing goaltenders that can shut them out. Teams have often given up pursuit of finishing first in the League in order to avoid injuries and rest key players for the postseason. Ian Cooper, writing for the Toronto Star, noted that of 11 Presidents Trophy winners to lose in the first two rounds, seven came from divisions that were among the weaker half

4.
St. Louis Blues
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The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League, the team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song Saint Louis Blues, and plays in the 19, the franchise was founded in 1967 as an expansion team during the leagues original expansion from six to 12 teams. The Blues are the oldest NHL team never to have won the Stanley Cup, the Blues were one of the six teams added to the NHL in the 1967 expansion, along with the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and California Seals. St. Louis was the last of the six teams to gain entry into the League. The Black Hawks were owned by the influential Wirtz family of Chicago, which also owned the decrepit St. Louis Arena. The Wirtzes sought to unload the arena, which had not been well-maintained since the 1940s, and thus pressed the NHL to give the franchise to St. Louis, which had not submitted a formal expansion bid. NHL President Clarence Campbell said during the 1967 expansion meetings that, We want a team in St. Louis because of the geographical location. The teams first owners were insurance tycoon Sid Salomon Jr. his son, Sid Salomon III, and Robert L. Wolfson, Sid Salomon III convinced his initially wary father to make a bid for the team. Garagnani would never see the Blues franchise take the ice, as he died from an attack on June 19,1967. Upon acquiring the franchise in 1966, Salomon then spent several million dollars on extensive renovations for the 38-year-old arena, the Blues were originally coached by Lynn Patrick, who resigned in late November after recording a 4–13–2 record. He was replaced by Assistant Coach Scotty Bowman, who led the team to a winning record for the rest of the season. Although the Leagues rules effectively kept star players with the six teams. Phil Goyette won the Lady Byng Trophy for the Blues in 1970, the arena quickly became one of the loudest buildings in the NHL, a reputation it maintained throughout its tenure as the Blues home. During that time, Salomon gained a reputation throughout the NHL as the top players owner and he gave his players cars, signed them to deferred contracts and treated them to vacations in Florida. The players, used to being treated like mere commodities, felt the way they could pay him back was to give their best on the ice every night. The Blues successes in the late 1960s, however, did not continue into the 1970s, as the Stanley Cup playoff format changed, defensively, however, the Blues were less than stellar and saw Chicago and the Philadelphia Flyers overtake the Division. After missing the playoffs for the first time in 1973–74, the Blues ended up in the Smythe Division after a League realignment

5.
Chris Pronger
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Christopher Robert Pronger is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently under contract with the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. Though not officially retired, he is not expected to play again and he was captain of the Blues, Ducks and Flyers. He has appeared in the Stanley Cup finals with three different teams, winning the Cup with the Ducks in 2007, Pronger won the Hart Trophy as the leagues most valuable player for the 1999–2000 season and was the first defenceman to win the award since Bobby Orr in 1972. A mainstay on Team Canada, Pronger won Olympic gold medals at Salt Lake City 2002, Pronger was also considered one of the NHLs dirtier players and has been suspended eight times. On January 27,2017, in a ceremony during the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, Pronger was born in Dryden to Jim and Eila Pronger, an immigrant from Pori, Finland. Before entering the Junior ranks in Ontario he grew up playing hockey in his hometown. As a 15-year-old, he was identified through the Ontario U-17 program, B club for the 1990–91 season. One of his partners in Stratford was future NHLer Greg DeVries. In May 1991, Pronger indicated he was going to join his older brother Sean at Bowling Green State University instead of opting for the OHL, regardless of his pre-draft indications, Pronger was selected in the 6th round by the Peterborough Petes in the OHL Priority Selection. He subsequently reported to the Petes and played two years in the OHL before being selected in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and he made his debut in the 1993–94 NHL season, playing 81 games for the Whalers and earning a spot on the NHL All-Rookie Team. On his rookie season, then-teammate Kelly Chase noted, You could see had talent and he really didnt have any direction. He was under a lot of pressure and just wasnt ready for the responsibility, of course that team wasnt exactly overloaded with players who knew how to win. After a second season in Hartford, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for star forward Brendan Shanahan on July 27,1995. In the early years of his St. Louis career, Pronger played under coach, late in his first season, the acquisition of Wayne Gretzky took pressure off of Pronger, which combined with Keenans practices, allowed Pronger to concentrate on improving his defensive play. In his third season with St. Louis and first as team captain and that year Pronger also had a brief cardiac arrest during the 1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he was hit in the chest with a puck in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. Prior to this he played for the Canadian Olympic team in Nagano, in 1999–2000, Pronger recorded a career-high 62 points and a +52 rating. His efforts culminated in a Norris and Hart Trophy at the end of the season, Pronger beat Art Ross winner Jaromír Jágr by just one point in Hart Trophy voting, which was, at the time, the smallest margin of victory in the history of the award. Pronger was also named to the First All-Star Team, Pronger notched 47 points the next season, but appeared in only 51 games due to injury problems

6.
Pittsburgh Penguins
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the leagues original expansion from six to twelve teams. The Penguins played in the Civic Arena, also known to Pittsburgh fans as The Igloo and they moved into their new arena, PPG Paints Arena, to begin the 2010–11 NHL season. They have qualified for five Stanley Cup Finals, winning the Stanley Cup four times – in 1991,1992,2009, and 2016. Before the Penguins, Pittsburgh had been the home of the NHLs Pirates from 1925 to 1930, in the spring of 1965, Jack McGregor, a state senator from Kittanning, began lobbying campaign contributors and community leaders to bring an NHL franchise back to Pittsburgh. The group focused on leveraging the NHL as an urban renewal tool for Pittsburgh. The senator formed a group of investors that included H. J. Heinz Company heir H. J. Heinz III, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. Norris, owner of the Chicago Black Hawks, and his brother Bruce Norris, the effort was successful, and on February 8,1966, the National Hockey League awarded an expansion team to Pittsburgh for the 1967–68 season. The Penguins paid $2.5 million for their entry and $750,000 more for start-up costs, the Civic Arenas capacity was then boosted from 10,732 to 12,500 to meet the NHL requirements for expansion. The Pens also paid a bill to settle with the Detroit Red Wings. The investor group named McGregor president and chief officer. A contest was held where 700 of 26,000 entries picked Penguins as the nickname for the team, mark Peters had the winning entry, a logo was chosen that had a penguin in front of a triangle, which symbolized the Golden Triangle of downtown Pittsburgh. The Pens, along with the rest of the teams, were hampered by restrictive rules which kept most major talent with the existing Original Six teams. Beyond aging sniper Andy Bathgate, All-Star defenseman Leo Boivin and Ranger veteran Earl Ingarfield, a number of the players had played for the Hornets the previous season, Bathgate, wingers Val Fonteyne and Ab McDonald, and goaltenders Hank Bassen and Joe Daley. George Sullivan was named the coach for the clubs first two seasons, and McDonald was named the teams first captain. On October 11,1967, league president Clarence Campbell and McGregor jointly dropped the ceremonial first puck of the Penguins opening home game against the Montreal Canadiens. On October 21,1967, they became the first team from the class to beat an Original Six team. However, the Penguins went 27–34–13 and finished in place in the West Division, missing the playoffs

7.
New Jersey Devils
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The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the club was founded as the Kansas City Scouts in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1974. The Scouts moved to Denver, Colorado in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies, in 1982, they moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey and took their current name. For their first 25 seasons in New Jersey, the Devils were based at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, beginning with the 2007–08 season, the Devils relocated to Newark and now play their home games at the Prudential Center. Their fortunes began to turn following the hiring of president. They have won the Atlantic Division regular season title nine times, most recently in 2009–10, the Devils have reached the Stanley Cup Finals five times, winning in 1994–95, 1999–00 and 2002–03. The Devils were known for their defense-first approach throughout their years of Cup contention, the Devils have a rivalry with their cross-Hudson River neighbor, the New York Rangers, as well as a rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Devils are one of three NHL teams in the New York metropolitan area, the two teams are the New York Islanders and New York Rangers. The franchise is the major league team in any sport that explicitly identifies itself as a New Jersey team. In 1972, the NHL announced plans to add two teams, including one in Kansas City, Missouri. Edwin G. Thompson led the group that purchased ownership of the team, with 41 points in their inaugural season, the Scouts finished last in the Smythe Division, only the Capitals had fewer points in the NHL. Kansas City fell to 36 points the season, and had a 27-game losing streak. The Scouts had difficulty drawing fans to games, and National Hockey League Players Association leader Alan Eagleson publicly expressed concerns about whether Scouts players would be paid. After two seasons in Kansas City, the moved to Denver and was renamed the Colorado Rockies it played at the McNichols Sports Arena. The team won its first game as the Rockies, 4–2, the Rockies were in position to qualify for the playoffs 60 games into the 1976–77 season, but a streak of 18 games without a win caused them to fall from contention. The Rockies ended the campaign last in the division with a 20–46–14 record and 54 points, despite having the sixth-worst record in the League, the Rockies beat-out the Vancouver Canucks for second in the Division by two points and gained a playoff berth. The Philadelphia Flyers eliminated the Rockies from the playoffs in the preliminary rounds, a lack of stability continually plagued the team. The franchise never won more than 22 games and did not return to the playoffs after 1977–78 in its six seasons in Colorado

8.
Philadelphia Flyers
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The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the Flyers were the first expansion team in the post-Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, victorious in 1973–74 and again in 1974–75. The Flyers all-time points percentage of 57. 7% is the second-best in the NHL, the Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, first at the Spectrum from 1967 until 1996, and then at the Wells Fargo Center from 1996 to the present. The Flyers have had rivalries with several teams over the years, historically, their biggest adversaries have been the New York Rangers, with an intense rivalry stretching back to the 1970s. The club was coached by J. Cooper Smeaton, who 30 years later would be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his far more accustomed role as an NHL referee. Among the young Quakers skaters in 1930–31 was another future Hall of Famer in 19-year-old rookie center Syd Howe, the Quakers quietly suspended operations after that single dreadful campaign to again leave the Can-Am Leagues Philadelphia Arrows as Philadelphias lone hockey team. The Quakers dormant NHL franchise was canceled by the League in 1936. )The latter was held by the Canadian Arena Company. Petos group, however, was unable to raise funding for the new project by the League-imposed deadline. Snider made his proposal to the League, which chose the Philadelphia group — including Snider, Bill Putnam, Jerome Schiff, on April 4,1966, Putnam announced there would be a name-the-team contest. Details of the contest were released on July 12, the team name was announced on August 3. The new teams were hampered by restrictive rules that all major talent with the Original Six teams. In the NHL Expansion Draft, most of the players available were either aging veterans or career minor-leaguers before expansion occurred. Among the Flyers 20 selections were Bernie Parent, Doug Favell, Bill Sutherland, Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson, Lou Angotti, Leon Rochefort and Gary Dornhoefer. Beginning play in 1967–68, the Philadelphia Flyers made their debut on October 11,1967 and they won their first game a week later, defeating the St. Louis Blues on the road, 2–1. The Flyers made their debut in front of a crowd of 7,812, shutting out their intrastate rivals. Lou Angotti was named the first captain in Flyers history, while Rochefort was the Flyers top goal scorer after netting a total of 21 goals. Playoff success, however, did not come so quickly, as the Flyers were upset by St. Louis in a first round, Angotti left the team in the off-season and was replaced by Van Impe as team captain. Led by Van Impe and the team-leading 24 goals of Andre Lacroix, despite their poor regular season showing in 1968–69, they made the playoffs

9.
Dallas Stars
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The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League, the team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. Before the beginning of the 1978–79 NHL season, the merged with the Cleveland Barons after the league granted them permission due to each teams respective financial struggles. Ultimately, the relocated to Dallas for the 1993–94 NHL season. The Stars played out of Reunion Arena from their relocation until 2001, the Stars have won eight division titles in Dallas, two Presidents Trophies as the top regular season team in the NHL, the Western Conference championship twice, and in 1998–99, the Stanley Cup. Joe Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs that year, in 2000, Neal Broten was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2009, Brett Hull became the first Dallas Stars player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, followed by Ed Belfour and Joe Nieuwendyk in 2011, in 2010, brothers Derian and Kevin Hatcher were inducted to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. The Minnesota North Stars began play in 1967 as part of the NHLs six-team expansion, home games were played at the newly constructed Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Initially successful both on the ice and at the gate, the North Stars fell victim to financial problems after several seasons in the mid-1970s. In 1978, the North Stars were purchased by the owners of the Cleveland Barons, with both teams on the verge of folding, the NHL permitted the two failing franchises to merge. The merger brought with it a number of talented players, and the North Stars were revived—they reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981, the NHL rejected the request and instead agreed to award an expansion franchise, the San Jose Sharks, to the Gund brothers. In the following season, the Minnesota North Stars made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, after the 1991 season, the North Stars suffered through poor attendance and profitability. The teams fortunes were further impeded by the terms of the settlement with the Gund brothers, New owner Norman Green explored the possibility of moving the team to Anaheim, however the NHL decided instead to place the expansion Mighty Ducks there in 1992. In their final two seasons in Minnesota, the adopted a new logo which omitted the North from North Stars. In 1993, amid further attendance woes and bitter controversy, Green obtained permission to move the team to Dallas. Green was convinced by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach that Dallas would be a market for an NHL team. The Stars would move into Reunion Arena, built in 1980, the Stars played their first game in Dallas on October 5,1993, a 6–4 win against the Detroit Red Wings. In that game, Neal Broten scored the first Stars goal in Dallas, Dallas was an experiment for the NHL

10.
Colorado Avalanche
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The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League, the Avalanche are the only team in their division not based in the Central Time Zone, the team is situated in the Mountain Time Zone. Their home arena is Pepsi Center and their general manager is Joe Sakic. The Avalanche were founded in 1972 as the Quebec Nordiques and were one of the franchises of the World Hockey Association. The franchise joined the NHL in 1979 as a result of the NHL–WHA merger, following the 1994–95 season, they were sold to the COMSAT Entertainment Group and relocated to Denver. Among teams in the major North American professional sports leagues, only the National Football League s Washington Redskins have also accomplished the feat and this was the first major professional sports championship a Denver-based team would bring to the city. In the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, the Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils 4–3 to win their second, as a result, they are the only active NHL team that has won all of its Stanley Cup Final appearances. Coincidentally, the Devils had preceded the Avalanche in Denver, they were called the Colorado Rockies, the Avalanche have won nine division titles and qualified for the playoffs in each of their first ten seasons in Denver, this streak ended in 2007. The Quebec Nordiques were one of the World Hockey Associations original teams when the league play in 1972. Though first awarded to a group in San Francisco, the team moved to Quebec City when the California deal soured because of financial. During their seven WHA seasons, the Nordiques won the Avco World Trophy once, in 1977 and lost the finals once, in 1979, the franchise entered the NHL, along with the WHAs Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, and Winnipeg Jets. After making the postseason for seven years, from 1981 to 1987. From 1987–88 to 1991–92, the finished last in their division every season. This included a dreadful 12-win season in 1989-90 that is still the worst in franchise history, as a result, the team earned three consecutive first overall draft picks, used to select Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan and Eric Lindros. Lindros made it clear he did not wish to play for the Nordiques, to the extent that he did not wear the jersey for the press photographs. On advice from his mother, he refused to sign a contract, on June 30,1992, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for five players, the rights to Swedish prospect Peter Forsberg, two first round draft picks and US$15 million. The Eric Lindros trade turned the moribund Nordiques into a Stanley Cup contender almost overnight, in the first season after the trade, 1992–93, the Nordiques reached the playoffs for the first time in six years. Two years later, they won the Northeast Division and had the second best regular-season record during the strike-shortened season, while the team experienced on-ice success, it spent most of its first 23 years struggling financially

11.
Stanley Cup
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The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoff winner. The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to Montreal HC, and subsequent winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games, Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. After a series of mergers and folds, it was established as the de facto championship trophy of the NHL in 1926. There are actually three Stanley Cups, the bowl of the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the authenticated Presentation Cup. The NHL has maintained control over both the trophy itself and its associated trademarks. Nevertheless, the NHL does not actually own the trophy, the original bowl was made of silver and is 18.5 centimetres in height and 29 centimetres in diameter. The current Stanley Cup, topped with a copy of the bowl, is made of a silver and nickel alloy, it has a height of 89.54 centimetres. Unlike the trophies awarded by the major professional sports leagues of North America. Originally, the winners kept it until a new champion was crowned, currently, winning teams get the Stanley Cup during the summer and a limited number of days during the season. It is unusual among trophies to include winning members names, every year since 1924, a select portion of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff names are engraved on its bands. However, there is not enough room to include all the players and non-players, initially a new band added each year, though this caused the trophy to grow in size, earning the nickname Stovepipe Cup. In 1958 the modern one-piece Cup was designed with a barrel which could contain 13 winning teams per band. To prevent the Stanley Cup from growing, when the band is full, the oldest band is removed and preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanleys Cup, The Holy Grail, the Stanley Cup is surrounded by numerous legends and traditions, the oldest of which is the celebratory drinking of champagne out of the cup by the winning team. Since the 1914–15 season, the Cup has been won a combined 100 times by 18 active NHL teams, prior to that, the challenge cup was held by nine different teams. The Montreal Canadiens have won the Cup a record 24 times and are the most recent Canadian-based team to win the cup, the Stanley Cup was not awarded in 1919 because of a Spanish flu epidemic, and in 2005, as a consequence of the 2004–05 NHL lockout. After the Lord Stanley of Preston was appointed by Queen Victoria as Governor General of Canada on June 11,1888, he, Stanley was first exposed to the game at Montreals 1889 Winter Carnival, where he saw the Montreal Victorias play the Montreal Hockey Club. The Montreal Gazette reported that he expressed his delight with the game of hockey

12.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate

Drafted by the Blues in 1976, Bernie Federko played with the team from 1976 to 1989. He holds the record for games played with the Blues.

The Blues acquired Brett Hull through a trade in 1987. Playing with the team until 1998, he holds the record for goal scored with the team.

Keith Tkachuk played for the Blues from 2000 to 2006 and again from 2007 to 2010. During his time with the team he became the third American player to score 500 goals, and the sixth American player to reach 1000 points.